Mallorca crash sidelines two Katusha riders

It’s been a frustrating past few weeks for the Katusha team with the Licence Commission’s decision to turn down its WorldTour registration, thus prompting an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

The team now has an additional headache after the crash of Petr Ignatenko and Vladimir Gusev during a training camp in Mallorca.

The camp features riders who didn’t travel to the Tour de San Luis; the team had hoped to also ride the Santos Tour Down Under but as it is operating under a Pro Continental licence for now, the riders for Australia were not able to travel.

Ignatenko and Gusev fell during team time trial training. The former came out worse, and will have to undergo surgery tomorrow after he snapped the ligaments between his right shoulder and scapula.

As for Gusev, he fractured a finger on his right hand and suffered a bang to his left side. He has a large bruise to his femur.

It is as yet unclear as to when they will be back in action, but the team hopes to have a better estimation of the return date this week.